Ozark National scenic riverways - Not just canoeing....

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Ozark National Scenic Riverways is famous for canoeing and kayaking. But it is not same as which you would have done in any other river or lake. You will know how it is different shortly. I am not going to write the same detail which National park service has already mentioned on their website like you can visit this place all year..... blah blah and so on. But yes, to avoid crowd and get easy bookings and reservations, the ideal time is September or early May. From June to August, these rivers becomes like interstate on Friday evening and you might face traffic jams of kayaks, canoes and rafts.

We started our trip in August's last Friday on labor day weekend. We reached there on Saturday morning and rented canoes from Akers Ferry. Our starting point was also the same. There are many renters and details are mentioned nicely on NPS website. You can plan a short trip of one or two day or a long trip of 15 days if want to take revenge with your boss. We planned for two days and it was 40 miles as my friend heard while booking canoe over phone. Actually it was 20 miles only. My friend got a bad ear... poor guy. So we had lots of time as we set one day target for two days. Even if you never done this before, paddling is fairly easy in this river and soon you will get that after bunch of dips in water. We learned that after we almost flipped over our canoe. In first hour, our canoe were floating reverse most of the time. Then we did some load balancing calculations, invented some new strokes and finally we learnt it. YEAH!!! See, how easy it was. So the point is, if we can do it - anybody can do it.

Now lets know how different this place is. Well most of the water in this river system comes from springs. Some of them you can see depending your route you decide. There is a underground water system created by mother nature which nourish this place. This underground water system make these river so clear, fresh and blue in color. This place is flooded by caves which also formed by this water system only. But most of them are not open for public. We visited a cave after Pultite spring. It is a long cave and we didn't know its end so decided better to turn back. It is awesome and worth to visit. Go without any light if you want to be part of next series of 'I shouldn't be alive'. One cave on our way was accessible by canoe also. It is a small cave and there is a spring inside it so they name it as Cave spring which is couple of miles after Akers Ferry point. Water was significantly colder inside the cave then river water outside. Fishing is another famous activity here. Due to spring water, there are lots of trout fishes.

There is no fun if you just sitting and paddling all the way. So the river provided shallow water at many places where you have to get down and lift your boat. Other then the paddle, fallen trees and rocks in the river also steer your canoe but in wrong direction 😊 and if you are so good in paddling forward, this place will teach you how to paddle reverse. It seems that everything there wants to be part of your fun.

After having so much fun, we reached to a gravel bar along the river where we decided to camp. There are plenty of gravel bars along with the river where you can camp. The river owns these camp sites and it doesn't have any reservation facility. These are first come, first occupy sites. Our campsite was in front of a big rock in middle or river and water was enough deep to jump from the rock. You got that what we must have done there. But make sure depth of water before you jump. It was end of day one.

When we woke up next day morning, the river was looking beautiful in morning mist. If you go for photography, look for a campsite where river is straight. You will have better pics of morning mist. After breakfast we started paddling again. It was easy today as we have learnt how to go around fallen logs and trees. But the river had more secret weapons. Some big branches were leaning right after a sharp bend. Two of my friends saved me by going ahead and smashing in the branches before me. The impact was so bad that both of them were in the water and water was in their canoe in the next moment. It was the class II rapid supported by some branches. But don't worry, this is the maximum this river has.

Finally on second day afternoon, after all these adventures and breathtaking views we reached to round spring lower ramp to return our canoes. On evening that day, we visited Devils well. which is an interesting place. If you have time try to go there. Its an underground lake but you can see from top only. It is not accessible to anybody. Night we spent in Pultite campground and next day morning, we drove back to home. Fortunately, I was the only who steering the car not any log or tree. So there was no fun in driving.

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